Commander Kel
by ananasfreak47
Summary: Set in post Lady Knight Tortall, this is going to be the classic KelDom story, and how they'll get together, I'll probably have to write a ball scene or something to get them out of their element. Alanna comes...Chapter 6 is now up! Please read and review
1. Riding Troubles

Disclaimer: If I were Tamora Pierce, would I have to write something like this on a ff site and not publish it in a book? Not that this is that good anyways. Enjoy!

1Commander Kel

Chapter I-Riding Troubles

Kel raced Neal to get to Fort Steadfast. Unfortunately for them, an alien battle horn sounded as they were about a mile off, Kel caught in the middle with her horse Peachblossom. Luckily, she had her glaive on her, but her sword and shield were out of reach.

"Turn back, Kel!" said Neal, only his warning came too late and she was in the midst of a Scanran raiding party. Neal stayed back, trying to use his Gift from afar. He needed to save his friend, who was being attacked from all sides. He scorched one out of existence that almost gutted her with a longsword; Peachblossom trampling another down. Another horn call sounded in the distance, a familiar one coming from the fort. Help was on the way, but not soon enough. Even as Kel beheaded one of the men with her glaive, another came up behind her and cut her in the back, where her weapon arm met her back, at the opening of the chain mail. Two squads of the King's Own were upon the Scanrans now, but Neal wasn't aware of that–of anything. Even his magic was forgotten. He charged into the battle armed with a shield and a sword, and thrust himself into the melée to rescue his friend, Kel. Already he could see she was struggling to hold onto her weapon and stay upright in her saddle. Thank the Gods all the Scanrans were too busy defending themselves from the Own or one of them surely would have cut her down.

Dom saw his white-faced cousin ride into the middle of the Scanran group. He cursed, what was his cousin on? That was such a dangerous thing to do, was his cousin really more dense than he thought? He would ask him later. Then he saw another knight, a tall, brown-haired one about to fall off his warhorse. Hold on, _her _warhorse. Curse it, she was injured. He needed to go save both his cousin and Lord Raoul's former squire who was one of his good friends. He motioned for Fulcher to take command of his squad and rushed over to the thinning crowd around Kel and Neal. He had never been this scared. Yes, he teased his cousin all the time, but he still cared for him deeply–not only him but the Lady Knight too–interjected a voice in his head, as he flinched and everything around him went black.


	2. Scared Friends

Chapter II-Scared Friends

When Dom awoke, he found himself not in the middle of a battlefield, but rather in a strange bed. With lots of other beds in a line and a couple people in those beds. He thought he recognized some of the people, there was Wolset, and Fulcher, and Lerant, two of his other men, and Kel, two beds down from him, though there was nobody on the bed in-between their beds. By the Gods, his head hurt. What had happened? He saw his uncle working on some patients by the far end of the infirmary. Neal came over, looking a bit distraught and worn-out, to check on Dom when he saw he was awake.

"What in Mithros' name were you doing riding into the group of Scanrans? You could have easily been killed."

"I could ask you the same question, Meathead! I went after you because you looked like you were in trouble. What happened to me anyways?"

"A desperate Scanran went berserk and started waving his sword around. He hit you on the back of your head with the flat of his sword. You were unconscious quite a while, it's been about six hours."

"Why did _you_ put yourself in that much danger, too, cousin?"

"I went after Kel, who rode unsuspectingly into that happy little band of raiders, and she got hurt and was about to fall off her horse. I wasn't about to leave her there, would you have?"

"Of course not, but you should have saved yourself for healing the wounds after the battle."

"And let my best legendary friend die?" They both fell silent, letting it sink in.

"I'm sorry, Neal, I was just terrified that you two weren't going to come out alive. How is Kel?" asked Dom, glancing over to her bed worriedly, seeing her asleep there peacefully with a red bandage on her right shoulder. He blanched.

"She shouldn't be losing that much blood!!! Can't you do something about it?"

Neal grimaced.

"It's a very deep cut, it's a wonder her whole arm wasn't cut off, all my father and I can do is make sure no infection sets in, but now she's fighting a bad fever."

"Will she make it?" asked Dom, with more concern than Neal thought necessary for just a friend, not a best friend like himself.

"Hopefully, we just have to keep praying and checking on her every few hours, but it's been hard because of all the wounded and Father's about to collapse."

"You're not looking too good yourself," said Dom, looking Neal over, who had turned greyer from trying to keep the bruising and swelling on the back of Dom's head down. "Why don't you go rest?"

"But I need to look after Kel," said Neal, with a choked sob. Dom knew how he felt.

"I'm feeling better, I'll keep an eye on her."

"You'll let me know if...if anything happens?" Dom nodded solemnly. Dom got up and went over to the empty bed beside Kel and sat down again, watching her body closely for any sign of movement. "Check her forehead–you'll have to keep replacing the cooling cloths every so often." Neal sagged against the wall, then, seeming to gain a bit of strength, headed out of the infirmary to his rooms. Dom prayed he would get there without collapsing unconscious, which looked entirely possible given Neal's state.


	3. Yamani Warrior?

Chapter III-Yamani Warrior?

There was no one else in the far end of the infirmary. Dom gently felt Kel's burning forehead and placed a cool compress on it, accidentally brushing her face with his fingers. She stirred, and started mumbling incoherently. It seemed like she was arguing, with whom Dom had no idea, he shuddered to think it was the Black God. Surely she couldn't be _that_ close to death, could she? Eventually Kel fell back asleep, her mouth immobile once again, laying so still that Dom was afraid she was dead. He could not even see her chest rising and falling, and at that point he lost all reason.

"Kel!" he yelled, shaking her, he himself shaking with uncontrolled emotions. "Can you hear me? You'd better not be dead! Kel?! Kel!! Don't die on me!" He was getting frantic now, for she had not even cracked open an eyelid. Dom did not want this to be his last memory of his favorite Lady Knight, he needed to do something, otherwise he would regret it for the rest of his life. He quickly kissed her on the cheek, which was still hot under his lips, then fled before his uncle could question him about his outburst, and remembered his promise to Neal. But first he needed to calm down and get his emotions under control. He didn't think he had ever felt this intensity of a myriad of emotions: rage, grief, fear, worry, disappointment, and something else he couldn't name.

As he left to head for the practice courts where he could blow off some steam, he had all but forgotten his own injury to the head, which should have kept him in the infirmary, when he ran into the flagpole straight on, just then realizing that his visibility was limited. Luckily, no one was around. He touched his face to make sure he hadn't broken anything–he was quite proud and vain of his nose–when he noticed his face was wet. When had he been crying? He hadn't noticed that at all until now, so that's why he couldn't see. As he reached the deserted practice courts he lost his resolve–he was going to practice his unarmed combat, but it was a little boring alone, so he decided to try archery instead. He soon found out that he couldn't calm down enough to hold the bow steady. As a new wave of knowledge about how Kel was doing passed through him, he got a brilliant idea.

He went in search of Kel's rooms, hoping he wouldn't run into anyone, like Tobe, so he wouldn't have to explain himself. Luck was on his side. Not only was the door unlocked (he hadn't thought of the possibility of it being locked), but there was no sign of Tobe. He found what he was looking for, and took it into his hands, not believing what he was doing. It was heavier than he expected. He went back to the practice courts, where a few sparrows were perched in a nearby tree. He took a deep breath, already calmer–did Kel infuse her weapons with her Yamani calmness too?–he knew he would look ridiculous if anyone was watching, though no one was, and besides, he _had_ to know if he could do this. He was always too embarrassed to ask Kel in case he failed. If he died because of this, it would be a quicker and less painful death than continued existence without his friend.

Strengthening his resolve, Dom started the pattern dance he had secretly watched Kel do every morning, slowly at first, then more rapidly, a bit awkward, not used to the weight, but other than that, he was quite good. Especially for someone who had never picked up a glaive before. Nobody needed to know his secret, least of all, Kel. How many days while she was a squire he had watched her do her dawn exercises, admiring her gracefulness and skill (at least that's what he made himself believe). He scrutinized her every move, until he had each step memorized and could pick out the days that Kel was tired and made mistakes. He'd always wanted to learn how to use the glaive, but there never seemed to be any time, and he was sure Kel and the others would laugh.

What nobody knew, though, is in the middle of the night, when all assumed he was with a lady, he was actually practicing those moves by himself on the practice courts until he could do the motions in his sleep (and sometimes he did, too) at the speed Kel did them. The only thing lacking was a glaive, which is why he was actually happy Kel was in the infirmary, or he'd have a lot of explaining to do, starting with how he knew pattern dances so well, which would lead to the fact that he was spying and watching her carefully.

He relaxed, letting his anger work itself out, and all his other emotions, until only pride was left. _Pride?_ Pride, he supposed, for himself, for being able to do this, which he had wanted to do for years, and not being found out, but also for her, her brave, caring self that treated everyone as a human being worthy of her attention. And why shouldn't _he_ be worthy of her attention, then, too? Why can't I stop thinking about her? Is she still okay? I meant to let Neal know–

"DOM?!?!?"

Dom nearly impaled himself on Kel's glaive as it tumbled out of his hands and he jumped about three feet–then it registered that he should jump out of the way of the falling glaive. Who had seen him and broken his concentration? And for the Gods' sakes, why? He squinted and could make out someone with light brown hair.

"Dom, what are you doing out of bed and out of the infirmary? And I believe you were supposed to be keeping an eye on Kel, were you not?" Dom walked over to his cousin as his cousin approached him, and all of his feelings cam flooding back, leaving him speechless. "I knew you would try to sneak out before you were supposed to–that's why I asked the sparrows to keep an eye on you and tell me when you had left to go somewhere other than my rooms. Somehow I didn't expect to find you here, though, on the practice courts, with a glaive no less. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were a Yamani Lily, or at least you've trained with one but surely I would have known had either been the case. Where on earth did you learn that?" Dom's pent-up breath came rushing back as he tried to protect his secret.

"Never you mind!" yelled Dom. "I came out here because I was afraid Kel was dead and I meant to get you, but I forgot and was so terrified and nervous that I needed to get my energy out and calm down, only there was nobody else to do hand-to-hand combat with, and I couldn't hold a bow steady for shooting," Dom rambled.

"That's true," said Neal, pensive. "I've never seen you this worked up before, not even when I tied in the tree and hid all your clothes in the rosebushes. By the way, I went to the infirmary to check on Kel as soon as the birds warned me you had left. She's alive, and getting better, I think. Her fever's down a bit. Father's looking after her now. She should be regaining consciousness in the next day or so, we could go see if she's awake yet, and you need to go back there and _sleep,_" commanded Neal, after taking a good look at his sweaty, pale, exhausted cousin. "You'll kill yourself if you keep this up. And don't think I'm letting you off easy, I must say I'm looking forward with extreme interest and curiosity to finding out where you procured those Yamani fighting skills of yours. But that will have to be later, when I am rested enough to listen properly."

Dom, who could barely walk for soreness and exhaustion, followed Neal back into the infirmary without a word, and managed to get one shoe off before collapsing on the bed next to Kel. Neal tried to move him back to his own bed, but to no avail: the sergeant was heavier than he was and out cold. Just like Kel. Only she was still hot, not as bad as before, though. Neal sighed and went back to sleep on Dom's bed. There were other healers working now, and his father had rested a bit as well, so he was doing fine.


	4. The Goddess of Dawn awakes

Chapter IV-The Goddess of Dawn awakes

About midnight Dom woke up by falling off the bed onto the floor, causing a noise loud enough to wake the dead (according to Neal, who hadn't gotten enough beauty sleep). And wake the dead it did. Kel stirred and opened her eyes.

"Kel!" exclaimed Neal. "I was afraid you wouldn't make it." Dom, who was also around her bed, just stood there looking pale and a bit odd.

"Dom," she said, "I dreamt you were here, where you are now, pleading with me not to die." Dom blushed, hoping she didn't 'dream' what had happened after that.

"As a matter of fact, I was here, keeping watch over you so Meathead could sleep. Are you okay? We were all afraid you were dead, you lost so much blood and were running such a high fever. You are never allowed to scare us like that again, Mother," he said sternly. "Nevertheless, I'm glad you're back and conscious, Kel," giving her hand a comforting squeeze.

"Hey, are you injured or did I just dream that too?" asked Kel. "You look a little tired, you should go rest."

"Yes, Mother," said Dom in a teasing voise, his eyes sparkling despite his exhaustion.

"Would you stop talking so I can conduct another healing on her, please? Really, if I know Lady Knights at all, she'll try and get up and move around before she should even be out of bed, so I may as well heal you as much as I can beforehand."

"If I know Lady Knights at all..." snickered Dom. "Exactly how many of them do you know?"

"Well, there's Kel, and Alanna, that's two, and ..." Neal racked his brain for what everyone else called his massive stores of useless information read in books. "Well, I read about Kotlena of–"

"The point is you don't _know_ her. There are only two female knights in Tortall."

"Not for long," muttered Kel with a grin, remembering what Irnai had said, looking meaningfully at Neal.

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?! There really is something wrong with you, first you let me work a healing on you without even mentioning the plight of the stoic Yamani warrior," Neal said indignantly as Dom blushed with the mention of the word 'Yamani', and Kel noticed it with confusion. "And then you tease me about something I don't even understand."

Neal finished his healing and left, dragging his cousin with him and giving Kel strict orders to sleep and stay in bed. As they went through the door, Kel caught a piece of their conversation: "...you doing on the practice courts..." she heard Neal say with an air of disbelief. She wondered what that was all about, shaking her head, as Gainel came closer and closer...


	5. Secrets and Cousins

Chapter V-Secrets and Cousins

Dom categorically refused to answer the question Neal had asked him until both he and Neal were in Neal's room, and he had checked to make sure the door and windows were both shut and locked.

"Well, you see," said Dom, commencing his story, "there was this Yamani Shang who spent time with the Own this summer here and taught me, because I really wanted to learn."

"And nobody else found out obviously, or I would've heard," said Neal skeptically, not trusting (with good reason) this ludicrous story of Dom's imagination.

"I took lessons in private, in the dead of night, so nobody would know," continued Dom.

"Why did you even want to learn how to use that pigsticker?" Neal didn't watch Dom's mouth moving with no sound coming out for more than two seconds before saying, "That's what I thought. Now tell me the real story." Neal laughed inwardly as he saw Dom's eyes go wide, it really wasn't a good lie, anyone could have seen through it. As Dom hesitated, Neal sent green fire to envelop the room and make it safe from magical and normal eavesdropping. "If your secret's _that_ important, I'll even use some of my precious magic I really shouldn't be using for things other than healing right now. Dom still made no move to spill the beans. "Look, if you don't tell me now, I'll tell Kel you want to spar against her with a glaive. I'm sure she'll be thrilled." Dom's face turned an interesting color of purple, trying to quickly decide which would be worse, Neal knowing, or losing to Kel and being humiliated and _then_ having to explain himself in front of her and everybody else. So he did what anyone with half a mind would do faced with two such bad choices: he ran for the door. Unfortunately he couldn't quite make it there, for he ran into Neal's green barrier and bounced off, every part of his body that had made contact with it stinging like fresh mosquito bites.

"Let. Me. Out. Now! And take down your bloody barrier!" exclaimed Dom, getting more wound up by the second.

"Certainly, if you'd rather have our little chat in front of the whole camp." Neal watched with satisfaction as Dom blanched; tormenting him really was lots of fun, but he was even more curious of the manner of acquisition of Dom's glaive skills. Defeated, Dom slumped back into the chair he had previously been occupying. Eyes downcast, he asked Neal:

"Do you swear on your honor (Dom made a face), nay, on your unfortunate blood relation to me that you won't tell a soul?" Neal sighed.

"I suppose, but really, my honor should have been enough, after all, I am a noble _and_ a knight, you know."

"Okay," Dom took a deep breath and started his real story, "I've always felt inferior to all you knight people because of my inability to fight with a lance, and with a sword and shield. I've always wanted the chance to prove myself. The first time I saw those glaives in action was one early morning with the Own, about a month after Kel became Lord Raoul's squire. Kel was the only one on the practic ecourts at that insane hour. I was coming off watch duty, and happened to pass by. I was intrigued at the very least. I was stunned, and amazed that a deadly weapon like that could be wielded so gracefully. I decided, in that moment, that I would learn to use it."

"But how?" Neal interjected, unable to keep quiet, because he did not feel Dom was getting to the point quickly enough.

"I would sign up for the dawn watch, and after I would get off I would go to the practice courts and watch Kel and try to memorize her movements (and her curves, whispered a voice in Dom's head)," he said, intentionally leaving out the part where he was basically stalking Kel every day, hoping his normally dense cousin wouldn't pick up on it. "Then, at midnight, I wasn't lying about this part, I would go back to the courts, and practice the same moves I saw Kel doing every morning."

"Where did you find an extra glaive?" inquired Neal.

"I didn't," responded Dom, surprising Neal. "I practiced without one, doing the hand movements all the same, preparing for the day I actually would have one... and I finally did." Neal's face blazed in sudden understanding.

"Are you telling me yesterday was the first time you ever picked up a glaive?" Dom nodded shamefacedly. **(A/N I'm not exactly sure why he's ashamed, but he is.)** "But you're bloody crazy! Those things are dangerous! You could have killed yourself!"

"How is that any different than your first experience with a shukusen?" Neal blushed, remembering, Dom continuing as if he hadn't seen anything, "and how is my learning to use a glaive different than Yuki giving you a shukusen and teaching you how to use it?" Dom knew he had gone too far; in his haste, his mouth had betrayed him and implied things he didn't mean to be implied. Unfortunately for him at the time, Neal got it, and Dom was waiting for the explosion that was bound to follow, something along the lines of how could he [Dom like his [Neal's best friend like that. The next time Neal spoke, however, he used a soft and understanding tone. (Dom had forgotten the genuinely nice and caring part of his cousin, perhaps because Neal always tried to pretend it didn't exist.)

"How long have you been 'training' for?"

"About four years, Neal, every day I could, and every day we didn't have a mission so I could watch Kel. Other days we were on the move too early for her to even practice."

"Is that why you took her glaive today, cousin?" asked Neal gently, with nothing but understanding in his emerald-green eyes.

"Yes, I lost it, I was more scared than I've ever been, so afraid she wouldn't survive. And it was something I needed to do; if she" –he choked on the next word– "died, I needed to be there to carry on her tradition of rising at dawn for glaive practice, to keep her spirit alive. It's so wondrous, Neal **(A/N Look who's waxing poetic now)**, the first time I saw them all at dawn practice, six of them, fighting with those weapons. Gods, it was magical," said Dom with a misty look in his eyes. "More beautiful than the queen, though she was there too with that deadly pole arm in her hand. Why are you looking at me like that, Neal?"

"I'm trying to decide how I feel about you. I'm quite impressed, completely stunned that you had the discipline to give up most of your sleep willingly for four years, and I'm trying to think if I've ever seen morning glaive exercises, in fact, I don't think I have. But now I'll definitely have to, the way you described them you made it seem breathtaking. Have you ever thought about writing poetry, Dom?" Dom made a face. "I'll take that as a 'no'. I do have one question for you: does she know?"

"_She?_"

"Kel. Don't be so dense, Dom. Does she know how you feel about her?"

"No, of course not, and if I had you would have known too. You two are best friends and tell each other everything. Do you think she feels the same about me?"

Neal was shocked to see his cousin this vulnerable, asking for his honest opinion about a woman. They had never talked like this before. Neal scrunched up his face in thought trying to remember any indication that Kel liked Dom. He couldn't think of any, but thought they would make a good match, curse it, why did she always have to hide her emotions under her mask?

"I don't know," he responded finally, "but I think she's been keeping her heart even more guarded since Cleon. You should try anyway, the worst she can say is 'no', and I'm sure she wouldn't let your friendship end just because of that. Now go, I need to sleep, and good luck."

Okay, this is all I have written so far. I'm trying to write more, but I don't have any idea when that might be, because I have insanely many college apps and essays to do in the next weeks. And I really want Kel to joust with Lord Wyldon and win, and also for her to beat Alanna at sword-fighting, so we'll see what happens. Oh and I might introduce characters from TC and TQ.


	6. The Alanna Monologues

Thanks to all who reviewed! I am very excited about the potential for this story...I have all the major plot points mapped out, but I'm having trouble getting everyone from point A to point B. Eventually the Kel/Dom part will show up, sorry to keep you all waiting. I can't write fluff very well, and I'm more like Kel in the romantic department, so I am bad at writing flowery speeches and stuff.

Oh and I realized that Kel and Neal were not the only two to head out from New Hope, they had Tobe and a bunch of people with them. I pretty much screwed up the whole canon-ness of my story. Sorry :(

Can anyone tell me where in the books it mentions Dom is a player?? I know there's that one line from Kel when she says to Cleon "Don't worry about him, he flirts with everybody, it runs in the family, you know how Neal gets." But is there anything else?

And I apologize for this chapter not getting to the good stuff, but it had a mind of its own. I made a promise (I even wrote it out and signed it, good thing it wasn't a blood oath ;) ) to myself that I wouldn't read any other ff (I am hopelessly addicted you know) until I wrote Chapters 6 & 7. I only wrote Chapter 6 before I broke my promise...ah well, here's the story, enough of the rambling

Ah, yes the disclaimer, the witty little line you are supposed to put at the beginning of each chapter clarifying that you are not, indeed, the author of the books off of which the ff is based, in case ANYONE had any impending doubts (if you are ANYONE, please leave me a comment so I can read it and laugh at you, I could really use a good laugh these days) Yes, I am Tamora Pierce, posting on a fansite. For free. THAT WAS SARCASM. Or was it? Because TP is rumored to have a dry, sarcastic sense of humor (not that I would know or anything, I only saw her one dark Halloween night, dressed in a cape, with my wand at the ready, with a cold, calculating sense of purpose that I was going to kill the one who had the possibility of vanquishing me...okay, sorry, bad HP reference, I couldn't resist, I swear, I'm not Voldemort, or this part has been censored out of respect for those who haven't read book 7 yet, although if you haven't yet, you can't be a hardcore fan. Anyway, that part about Voldemort isn't true, except for the Halloween part and the cape part. So I cannot possibly be TP because she wouldn't have been so stupid as to forget about more than half of her characters in a given scene (although sometimes her timelines are more than a bit questionable, I think there are a few time warps in them), so I'll just pretend they either went ahead of Kel and Neal, or were significantly behind them that they didn't get to participate in the fight at all. On to the story.

Chapter 6

The Alanna Monologues (for lack of a better title)

Two weeks later, Kel was up and moving as if she had never been injured at all. She was standing on the ramparts with Neal, discussing life and how relaxing a nice break from New Hope was. The early afternoon sun was warm on their backs.

"You get up before sunrise to fit in your glaive practice to stay in shape, and you call that relaxing?!?" exclaimed Neal, with a wry grin on his face that didn't quite seem to fit the mood, Kel noted with confusion. Ever since she was back on her feet from being attacked by Scanrans, Neal had been spending more time with her, giving her a chance to really reconnect with her best friend, but she couldn't shake off the feeling that he seemed different now, that he had a secret.

"Compared to being commander of a refugee camp, yes. And are you alright? Did anything happen between you and Yuki that I should know about? You've seemed a bit odd lately."

"No, everything is fine. We're just trying to decide where to have the wedding, at Queenscove or in Corus. In Queenscove it would be a quieter, more private ceremony, which we both would prefer, but in Corus more of our very busy, important guests, such as Lady Alanna, would be able to attend."

"You think I'd miss my former squire's wedding for anything? And how many times do I have to tell you to call me Alanna, without the lady part?" said a voice from behind them.

Neal jumped about a foot when he heard the voice; Kel had to hold him back to keep him form toppling off the edge of the wall. Kel was just as shocked as Neal, but tucked her surprise behind her mask and inquired politely: "Lady Alanna, what brings you here? I was not aware you had royal orders to come up and fight Scanrans."

Alanna grinned wickedly. "I caught word that two of my best friends were getting married, so I decided I'd best hurry up here before they had the wedding without me, not that they would dare. They are too afraid of how I might react, given my reputation, especially after that Wyldon incident, oh about ten years ago. I do believe you may have heard about that one?" Alanna glanced meaningfully at Kel, who nodded and ducked her head. "Anyways, I traveled here with that formidable man [Wyldon, Thayet, my husband, Daine and Numair. Unfortunately, King Jonathan is too busy with trying to resolve the war in Scanra, as well as some Carthaki trade problems, so he can't attend his own year-mate's wedding, sadly. But I can't deny that it means a lot less hassle with security here and the like."

As Alanna finished, Kel and Neal were looking at each other, having a silent argument about who should ask the question they both wanted to know the answer to, knowing that whoever talked, they would have to say her actual name. Kel tried, and started: "Alanna-", but was unable to continue, as her throat seemed to close up at the merest hint of disrespect.

"Yes, that is my name, it's not so difficult to say now, is it?" asked Alanna rhetorically, then glancing at Kel and realizing her incapacity to say anything more, "then again, I guess it is." Kel, thoroughly embarrassed at this point, resumed her previous activity of trading looks with Neal, eventually winning out.

"When did you and your group happen to get here, lass?" he asked, grining wickedly. "We saw no signs of your arrival." He shut up and ducked his head as his former knight-mistress took a swipe at him.

"You know perfectly well that you are not to call me lass. Only George is allowed to call me that."

"Really," muttered Neal in a tone of false innocence. "I'd never noticed that."

"You're lucky it's not morning, or I would've challenged you, Nealan," emphasizing the last syllable of Neal's full name. "You know better than to bait anyone form whom you want answers." Directing herself at Kel, Alanna explained: "We got here about an hour ago."-turning to glance at Neal, and changing her tone to dry and falsely condescending - "and no, you wouldn't have seen us, because you're on the northern wall, and we came from Corus, in the south." Looking at both of them, she continued: "As I was saying, we got here an hour ago to be whisked away by that rambunctious [A/N I always want to write rambunctinous for some reason squire of Wyldon's –it still strikes me as odd why he would have ever taken such a squire," Kel hid a grin, Alanna noticed, "– unless anyone would have suggested it to him. Wyldon left him here under Raoul's command –poor squire, Raoul's completely besotted, it's almost scary– to attend to some urgent business in Corus, and then we were briefly debriefed [A/N Isn't that an interesting combo of words? I rather like it myself. by Raoul, the lovesick puppy. When I asked him when the wedding was, he replied excitedly, 'Well, now that you're here, it'll be tomorrow.' My, does love make people strange."

Kel, who was watching Neal staring off into space, choked back a laugh, causing Alanna to break out of her reverie, musing about love, and follow Kel's gaze to Neal. She chuckled, telling Kel, "I've never known a knight to have his-or-her head stuck in the clouds as permanently as this one."

"Neal," Kel called, bringing him back to reality, "did you hear a word of what she said? She said the wedding's tomorrow!"

"WHAT?!?" exclaimed Neal. "But nothing's ready!"

"What needs to be done?" asked Alanna, as if she found the whole thing amusing.

"The food, the decorations, the clothes, what am I ever going to wear?"

"I don't know what you're going to wear, Meathead," said a new voice, as a fourth person joined them, "but I was sent to find the two charming Lady Knights of the realm of Tortall and accompany them to Buri's room to discuss exactly that question. I'm sure you would be welcome to join them, but you might end up in a dress. I must say, Meathead, that would provide a greate source of entertainment should there be a lack tomorrow. My ladies," Dom finished with a flourishing bow, "If you would please follow me."

Together Dom, Alanna, and Kel left Neal on the ramparts alone with his thoughts. Dom had been trying to pretend his outburst and confession when Kel was hurt had never happened, but to Neal, his interest in Kel was becoming painfully obvious, now that he knew to look for it. Kel didn't seem to notice anything out of the ordinary though, which was odd, or maybe she did and didn't let on, because she didn't want to hurt his feelings. Maybe that explained why she was acting a bit more closed off than normal. Originally he had thought it was about Cleon, as maybe she was imagining the wedding they could have had with all this talk abou weddings, but, again, he thought that was a bit strange. This was Kel he was talking about (well, thinking about). She didn't have a romantic bone in her body

End of Chapter 6

Well, I hope this will satisfy y'all/youse guys/you guys (girls? How many guys actually read this?)/ustedes/ihr/vous/ni men/intu (stupid English not having a good word for "you plural") BTW, Wyldon's urgent business in Corus has no bearing on the story, and neither does Jonathan's trade problems with Carthak. At least, not yet. ;)  
Who knows what I'll come up with.

Coming next: Alanna and Kel in Buri's rooms, and I'm planning in the same chapter, Raoul and Buri's wedding.

I just remembered, I have another story I wrote when I was away last year, I posted a few chapters, but I have a bunch more written somewhere, I need to go dig up that notebook. If I remember it's another Kel/Dom but I think it's more that everyone likes Kel ;) It's sad I don't really remember, and besides, this story is way better I think, but you'll have to review so I know for sure. I also have some one-shots written FOREVER ago, like three years ago (I put the date at the top of all my writings), gosh that was freshman year, I'm embarassed to see what I wrote, it's so bad, but I might just post it for grins. And because I like to get those little annoying email alerts telling me people love me enough to comment on my work.

Also, I generally have good grammar and spelling, although I do tend to let my sentences run on a bit too much. There are, however, a few words that I know the basic meaning of, but if I use them improperly, please call me on it and tell me how to correct it/how to use the words.


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